


Call your manager

by Clementive



Series: Coffee Cups [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: A bookworm and a nerd attempting to flirt, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Flirting, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Humor, Mutual Pining, Nerdiness, Teen Romance, discussion of the book Anne of Green Gables, some spoilers for Anne of Green Gables
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-08-11 13:23:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20154298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clementive/pseuds/Clementive
Summary: Tenten's feelings for her English project partner are as complicated as his coffee order.





	1. Anne

**Author's Note:**

> Late entry for NTmonth 2019... I started this after a conversation with Rochelle (bunrising) on the NejiTen discord: I argued that Neji probably has a complicated coffee order. And we all I'm right.
> 
> I know it's terribly Canadian of me, but I included Anne of Green Gables in there. I tried to keep spoilers to a minimum, but some things couldn't be avoided... (I WANT THEM TO BOND OVER BOOKS! :O)
> 
> Bonus: Mutual pinning *waggles her eyebrows*
> 
> This is a two-parter. First part is in Tenten's POV, the second in Neji's POV. Enjoy!

"You said you would be done by 6, so we could work on our project."

Tenten stiffened at the sound of his cold voice, clutching the rag until her hand trembled. She could feel his eyes on her. Her shoulders tensed. She wiped the counter harder.

Of course, he wouldn't be late.

Or dead in a ditch somewhere like she hoped.

"Tenten." he repeated impatiently, his eyes piercing through her. "Did you hear me?"

Inhaling sharply to calm down, Tenten turned slowly toward him, fingers curling around the rag. Water leaked down her wrist.

Neji still wore his school uniform, his tie neatly tied and covering the buttons of his shirt. His lips thinned in displeasure.

"Are you deaf?"

Tenten blew loose strands out of her sweaty face, then smiled placidly at him.

"No, unfortunately, I can hear your annoying voice," Tenten said with mocked cheerfulness, and threw the rag on the counter next to the coffee machine.

"That makes two of us," he replied coldly.

He held up his watch in front of her face.

"Nice watch," she said coolly.

"It's two past six, hurry up. I don't have all evening."

Tenten rolled her eyes.

She wished he was dumb. And ugly.

She hated how impressive he was, how he aced everything, the captain and president of all the intellectual clubs she would never dare attend. She hated how small he made her feel, always reciting facts as if she knew nothing.

"As a genius, you can wait five minutes, can't you?"

Tenten leaned over the counter and pointed at one of the empty tables by the windows.

His pale eyes flickered across her face, and she felt herself flush under the intensity of his gaze. She stopped herself from touching her face, brushing aside her hair. Fixing herself. 'Not for him,' she vowed silently. He always looked at her intensely, as if he was rearranging her in his mind, piecing her together in a way he could tolerate.

"My prefrontal lobe is indeed substantially developed for the delayed gratification of us finishing our project."

"Are you flirting or bragging? I can never tell."

He pinched his lips.

"I'm going to have a coffee."

"Sure," Tenten said through her fake smile as she reached for a coffee cup.

"You didn't ask what size," Neji frowned.

"Oh, I know the size you want. As large as what you hope your brain is."

Neji raised an eyebrow, and his lip trembled with disgust. Tenten almost flinched away from him. Somehow, she always said the wrong things around him.

And she craved his attention, eyes that didn't harden when they searched hers, lips that didn't curl up in disgust, in distrust, snapping back at her the "obvious answer".

She lively shook her head. She was not falling for some romantic notion of him being decent again. Not ever.

"Einstein had a small brain but more white matter than average," Neji said slowly interrupting her trail of thoughts. Her heart pounded, deafening. He truly thought she was stupid. "It's wrong of you to assume-"

"Hyuuga, you're holding the line with your flirting," Tenten cut him off in a whiny voice, annoyed.

"I'm most definitely not-" Neji huffed, scandalized, his hands automatically reaching up to rearrange his tie.

"The lineeee!" she drawled out in a high-pitched voice that made him wince.

"A latte. Half coconut milk, half almond milk. No foam, please," his mouth curled up in disgust, and he paused. "There was foam last time."

"And what's your name?" Tenten asked with saccharine venom.

"You know my name," Neji frowned.

She batted her eyelashes at him.

"Sorry, this is corporate policy," Tenten sighed, tilting her head back and forth, her voice lively, and she tapped her pen on the cup to emphasize her point. "Gotta ask, then scribble it on the cup."

"Neji," he said through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry, what was that? 'Majy'?" She innocently widened her eyes at him.

"Neji," Neji snapped, and she heard the sharp thud as he dropped his wallet on the counter.

"Mhm, so Neji..." Tenten chewed on her bottom lip, her pen tracing a line, before she striked it out and shook her head. "Oh shoot, is that an N or an M?"

"N."

"I didn't catch that," she sighed dramatically and scratched her scalp with her pen. "I'm just so slow today, sorry. So, is it n like nanny or m like Manny?"

Neji pinched his lips, as she pretended to smile politely, patiently. His credit card shook in his grip, and she wondered if somewhat he felt like she did whenever he spoke: suddenly unsure of his identity, confidence quivering, slipping through cracks she never knew were there.

"Call your manager," Neji ordered darkly.

Tenten wrote it on the cup in a slow gesture, mouthing each word.

"Coming right up, Call Your Manager," Tenten said sweetly, and she ripped his credit card out of his grip to ring his order up.

Tenten slammed the cup on the counter next to the coffee machine, then leaned over the cash register handing him back his credit card.

Neji opened his mouth, struggling, his lips disappeared in a grim line, his eyes hardening. He didn't step aside, his hands reaching again for his tie, hesitating.

"NEXT!" Tenten shouted, narrowing her eyes at him.

Neji turned on his heels sharply, and walked toward one of the tables next to the windows and the farthest from the entrance.

As Tenten served another customer, she watched him pull out his notebook, his textbook and the book they were reading in English class: Anne of Green Gables. He rearranged the table, fanning out his pens, so that everything was laid out neatly, efficiently.

She sighed deeply and bent down to retrieve the milk from the fridge under the counter.

Tenten hadn't known Neji when they had been paired up in English class. She knew he was the captain of the soccer and hockey teams. She had admired and cheered for him for from afar. She had romantic notions about him then; he had a deep baritone voice that rumbled through her and intense eyes that made the world faded out when he talked to her.

He had been none of that.

His voice was like dry ice, toxic to her and her self-doubts. And her imagination. He nitpicked, dissected every word, constantly correcting her as if she was a child.

His eyes reflected nothing when he talked to her.

Her admiration for him, her giddiness at being paired up with him had curdled quickly after their first assignment.

Tenten couldn't believe she was stuck with the jerk until the end of the semester because she had let her imagination run wild about the handsome boy who had everything.

And her feelings for the jerk were as complicated as his coffee order. Half infatuation. Half hatred.

Tenten roughly pressed the ground coffee in the group handle. Then, with a flick of the wrist, she screwed it in one of the group heads. She pressed the double espresso shot button on the machine. The machine whirred, familiar, safe, unlike how she felt close to Neji. While the coffee dripped in a creamy caramel colour in the cup, she heated the milk with the milk frother, standing still, so no foam would form.

The coffee swirled, paling, thinning, when she added the milk to the cup.

Tenten gripped the cup, squared her shoulders, and sighed one last time before marching toward him.

"Call Your Manager, here you go," Tenten said as she set the cup in front of him.

Ignoring his glare, she sat down at the table, and threw her crumpled apron on the other chair.

"So..." Tenten began then snapped her mouth shut when she saw him lift the lid off his cup. "There's no foam, you jerk," she snapped.

"There was last time," Neji replied smoothly, and closed back the lid.

"You're unbelievable," Tenten snorted.

"Yes, I'm above average in numerous areas including sport, debate, and-"

"Okay, sorry I asked," Tenten cut him off and flipped through the guidelines of their project.

Neji watched her carefully, his expression unreadable, and she re-read the same sentence over and over again. '_Discuss one of the themes explored in class for Anne of Green Gables while taking into account the socioeconomical reality of the time._'

"You shouldn't interrupt people, it's rude," Neji said after a while.

"Yeah, my mom told me, but then… I don't care," Tenten gave him an empty smile, and opened her own books. "Just be grateful, I'm not going violent-Anne on you... annoying-Gilbert."

"What about your father?"

Neji cleared his throat, and avoided her startled gaze as she looked up.

"Again, are you flirting or bragging about your superior breed?"

"I was making polite conversation," Neji said icily and took a sip of his drink.

He flinched, and Tenten rolled her eyes.

"What's wrong with it, now?"

"This is all coconut milk," he pushed the cup back toward her. "Do it again."

'_Crap, he noticed,_' Tenten thought.

"Say the magic word."

"My patience is running thin."

"Do you even know how to spell patience? Or do you just use that word as a synonym for tolerance to avoid repetitions?"

Neji leaned forward, joining his hands together on the table, poised, icy.

Tenten hated that pose. It aged him 30 years, and he alway paused, rearranging his posture, until he was authority on the subject he was about to discuss.

"Did you read the book in its entirety?" Neji asked in a low voice.

"Yeah," she replied dryly. "I even passed the quiz. Imagine that."

"Then, you should know that if you compare me to Gilbert, I'll win against you," he nodded toward her, sharply, the rest of him completely immobile. "Anne conforms in the end," he said slowly, and her face wrinkled briefly.

In the book, Anne was the girl that didn't belong anywhere. She spoke too loudly, she was too direct, too frivolous. She lived in a fantasy world that allowed escapism from her miserable life, and threw her in sentimentality. And it brought catastrophe after catastrophe. Anne needed to conform, everyone agreed.

Her heart hammered against her ribs, her skin flushed. Wasn't she in this messy unbalanced partnership because she once thought Neji was a prince charming?

Wasn't she Anne?

"You didn't read the other books, did you?" Tenten said and looked away.

Neji frowned, caught-off guard. His shoulders tensed, and he withdrew his hands from the table. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his fingers rearranging their textbooks and notebooks.

"Only this one was assigned," Neji said carefully and narrowed his eyes at a stain around his cup. "You can't just... You just can't..." He repeated.

"Yeah, well, I'm a bookworm and I read them all," Tenten shrugged, and balanced herself on her chair's back legs. "Anne whoops Gilbert's ass. They end up married. I bet she spanks him too."

"I-I..." Neji flustered and coughed, the rest of the words stuck in his throat.

"Alright, now that we've established that you're as uncomfortable with the notion of sex as a Victorian Lord, can we just do this thing?"

"Hn," he nodded stiffly, the tip of his ears still pink, his nose almost touching the pages of his open notebook.

* * *

"Are you watching me mop just so you can feel superior?" Tenten scoffed and wiped at her brow.

"No." Neji leaned over the door watching her silently.

Soft warm light bathed the coffee shop, as the sun set. Dusk stirred dust. Everything gleamed between them, their skins orange and yellow. The shadows of the flipped chairs on the tables grew elongated on the checkered floor.

Carelessly, Tenten dropped the bucket on the floor and groaned. Neji tensed, and lifted himself from the door as the water whooshed and splashed around the bucket.

"Careful-"

"The manager is also gone if you're sticking around for him," Tenten interrupted him roughly, and her face wrinkled in concentration as she moped a particularly resistant stain behind the counter.

He stared at the agitated water, his jaw clenched.

"I'm waiting for you," Neji admitted.

"What?" she screeched and whirled back toward him.

"It's late," he shrugged faintly. "I'm giving you a lift."

Tenten narrowed her eyes at him, as if debating whether he was laughing at her or not.

His uniform was still creaseless, his lips pressed together so tightly, they almost disappeared. And his eyes reflected nothing, but they bore through her.

"No, thanks," Tenten said flatly and returned to her moping.

"Don't be stubborn."

"Look, you make me think chivalry is dead. All the time," she said angrily. "So, you don't have to pretend you can be nice to me."

Neji approached the counter, frowning down at her.

"Chivalry was a moral code for knights during battles. I don't see how it applies here."

"Then, what is it about?" Tenten snapped and spun back toward him, holding the mop up. "Why are you waiting for me?"

"It's polite…" Neji cleared his throat. "And we're partners. Partners drive each other home. It's only decent."

"I relieve you from your politeness and decency duties," Tenten drew a cross in the air. "Amen. Now, bye."

"I don't like when you're sarcastic with me."

"Well, I really don't like you, so..." Tenten choked on each word.

Neji blinked, appalled, the colours draining from his face.

"What did I do?" he said softly.

"You wouldn't compromise on anything!" she shrieked, and the mop crashed on the floor. "You rejected all of my ideas and rewrote all of my sections. This is why I'm not serving you your crappy weird coffee. You're a terrible partner!"

"You said, you wanted a good grade!" Neji protested matching her voice with agitation. "My grades are better than yours. It's only logical that we would forgo your interpretations and take mine."

Tenten threw back her head, her eyes burning with the tears building up. She pinched her nose, her mouth twisted, and she tapped her feet on the ground. Once, twice. She stiffened. Her body vibrated.

She refused to cry.

"Oh my god, for a genius, you're so stupid," she muttered and turned about from him.

"That's an oxymoron."

Tenten closed her eyes.

She played with her necklace.

She needed him gone.

"Good night, Hyuuga."

Neji reached over the counter and caught himself before he could touch her. With widened eyes, he brushed her sleeve, his mouth agape.

Startled, she looked at the place he had touched, her chest heaving.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked darkly, and all her warmth left her.

"I'm sorry," Neji said quickly and held his hands up in an appeasing gesture. "I always… speak with reason, and sometimes I don't take pathos into consideration."

"Did you just dumb down logos for me, but not pathos?" Tenten laughed humourlessly.

"I'm not good like you with emotions," Neji coughed, glancing away from her. "Maybe like Gilbert."

"What?" Tenten snapped.

"Nothing. I just... Hn. I truly thought..." Neji winced, and glanced away. "I truly thought I was being a good partner to you. I apologize."

"Well, you weren't," Tenten said quietly, and picked the mop up. "I'm not taking your lift."

Moments later, the door shut softly behind him, the chiming bell chilling her.

She slid down on the wet floor.

She panted, her head dropping to her knees. She swallowed hard, her hands gripping at her sides.

There were times she wanted to peel off her skin, carve out her bones, and see someone else underneath. Some perfect shorter princess with more fashion sense.

Someone, anyone, who belonged with Neji Hyuuga.


	2. Gilbert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is in Neji's POV.
> 
> Enjoy, y'all! :D

Neji opened his mouth for the nth time.

"No," Tenten said it with force, an icy finality, formality that terrified him.

Neji glanced back at the door that chimed, customers lining up behind him even though it was Sunday. The usual buzz of the coffee shop was aggressive, oppressing on the weekends.

He hated it.

He cleared his throat, turning his head back toward Tenten.

"Tenten."

Tenten folded her arms over her apron. She shook her head, her lips pressed together, her whole body tensed.

"Nuh huh, no," she repeated when Neji opened his mouth again.

She was as unapproachable and elusive as always.

Frustrated, defeated, Neji dropped his wallet on the counter, both of his palms pressed against the cool surface on each side of it. A customer cleared his throat behind him. Another one paced, craning her neck and glanced at her watch.

"You're holding the line," Tenten hissed.

Neji didn't understand her.

Her face used to glow when she greeted him in the hallways. It vibrated, her smile wide and sparkling when he asked her to be his partner in English class.

Now, it was sober, angles that jolted with resolve, her chin thrust out.

"Tenten..." Neji said patiently, his insides chilled, knotted, suffocating him as they throbbed at the back of his throat. "I'm a customer."

Neji hadn't dared enter the coffee shop in days. He hadn't dared look at her during Chemistry or Physics class. He had imagined himself a hundred times go back in the coffee shop after he had left and picked things up where they had left off and... and... What?

He stared at the unwavering line of her lips.

He stared at her fingers curled back into fists.

'_I really don't like you_,' Tenten had said, but Anne had said the same to Gilbert in the book.

"It's Sunday, Hyuuga," Tenten replied slowly, and recoiled from the counter, her pinched nose in the air, her face turned away from him. "It's God's day. You can't annoy me on God's day."

"I'm here to read," Neji replied carefully, gauging her reaction.

For the first time of his life, Neji was insecure about the weight of his words, the intent of his gestures, the precision of his mind. He excelled at analyzing books, themes, motifs and characters; he understood them all. There was a certainty about written words that he could never get out of social interactions; he didn't have time to ponder and analyze each exchanged word and flickering facial expression.

He couldn't use his colour code in real life.

He couldn't circle, highlight, come back to conversations that occurred days ago with a refreshed perspective.

They moved too fast, moments gone and lost. Like with Tenten.

"Come on!" someone whispered loudly behind him.

"Sorry about that sir!" Tenten replied cheerfully.

There was no subtext to her.

Hers were reactions that billowed, exploding chaos, and they all startled him. She threw words carelessly, even when her closed expressions suggested they were loaded. And there were the sarcasm, the irony, and all the little acts of sabotage on his coffee order.

An unreliable narrator. That was what she was.

"Go to the library if you want to read," she said darkly, still not looking at him.

"I want to drink coffee _and_ read."

Neji pinched the bridge of his nose when she didn't bulge.

"The line," she said through gritted teeth.

His mouth worked.

His cheek twitched.

"Please," he said finally.

Tenten sighed, and nonchalantly, picked up a coffee cup, her smile bitter.

"So, it does learn... What do you want?"

"The usual."

Tenten grunted and threw her head back, breathing loudly through her nose. She blinked at the ceiling and cursed under her breath. There it was again; a minefield he hadn't anticipated.

Neji stilled, his heart throbbing painfully.

He _had_ been careful.

"What did I just say about annoying me on God's day?"

Neji wondered if she knew how all the edges of her hurt. Everything she touched, everything she said, was a weapon, a blade that stabbed and pierced blindly, carelessly, and yet it never missed.

"Latte with coconut milk," Neji said quickly.

Tenten scribbled on his cup, and rang him up.

"Alright, Call you manager, coming right up."

"Thank you," Neji mumbled stoically and walked to a table by the windows.

He took out the books from his bag and his pencil case. He rearranged them in order and fanned out his coloured pens in front of him. Then, he picked up the second book of the series and opened it.

"Oh, you must be kidding me," Tenten said under her breath from behind him, and Neji startled.

She stared at the books, her mouth working, her hand still holding his cup of coffee. He reached for it carefully, her fingers opening for him mechanically.

"What is it?" Neji asked.

"You're just searching for new ways to screw me," she cried out and pointed at the entire Anne of Gables series.

Neji looked up at her, the tip of his ears turning red. He found it hard to look away from her. There was a sharp brief tension, an uneasiness between that erupted, dulling the clicking of plates and the whirring of the coffee machine.

Tenten flushed and pouted, and her arms folded over her chest.

"I didn't mean for it to sound like that."

Neji cleared his throat, and turned the page of the book in front of him. He gulped with difficulty, trying not to imagine how it would be to kiss her.

"Hn."

"Fine, I'll bite. Why are you reading the other Anne Green Gables books?" Tenten asked with an edge to her voice, and she pushed the other books slightly.

"Because Gilbert gets Anne."

"And?"

"Hn. Can I give you a lift tonight?"

Tenten cocked her head to the side, her eyebrows knitted together, studying him. She slowly retracted her hand from the pile of books, and he pushed one of the books back so the pile would be even once more.

"I finish in 5 hours, Hyuuga," Tenten said flatly, her mouth twisted, and her eyes following the movement of his hand.

"I have reading material," Neji gestured toward the pile of books.

Her eyes flickered between his pile of books and his face.

She shrugged.

"You're so weird, and a little stalker-ish right now."

Neji flinched.

He pulled at his collar, he tried to arrange the pile of books, his pens, his cup of coffee. His hands shook. Everything was already in the right place.

He curled his hands into fists.

"What about I'm a good partner?" Neji murmured.

Tenten sighed, and pushed loose strands of hair out of her eyes.

"We'll see," she said grimly.

She spun on her heels, and it took him all his self-control not to stare at her walking away, her gait stiff but balanced, its usual bounce gone.

The corner of his mouth twitching, he started reading about how Gilbert got Anne to stop hating him.

* * *

"Tenten," Neji said wrought by words.

Anne. Gilbert. Tenten. _Tenten_.

He opened his mouth again.

Turned away from him, her body stiffened, shoulders tensed up, her breath building up her sigh. She released it loudly, loosely turning toward him.

"Fine, I'll do your stupid drink- Oh my god, what's wrong with you?"

Neji laughed humourlessly, shaking his head. Her eyes widened. He took his wallet out of his back pocket and threw it on the counter.

"She rejected him. You said they are together!"

"How fast do you read?" she gaped at him. "That's in the third book!"

"I took speed reading classes, but this isn't the point right now, Tenten. You lied."

"Geez, I didn't lie," Tenten huffed. "That's part of the journey, Hyuuga. You figured she'd give up her dreams for him at this point?"

"I didn't say that," he gritted his teeth together, watching her intently.

"Then, what are you saying?"

It didn't feel right, he wanted to shout and pointed at the two of them.

He thought in metaphors, in parallels when it came to them, and it felt _wrong_.

'_I really don't like you._'

Neji straightened his back, running a hand through his hair. With a flick of the wrist, he opened his wallet and slid his credit card on the counter toward her.

"I need a mocha. Coconut milk."

"What size?" Tenten asked evenly, and Neji startled, suddenly dry-mouthed.

"The usual," he managed to say, and cleared his throat.

Chewing her below lip, she wrote on his coffee cup, and swiped his card quickly.

"Not gonna lie, Hyuuga," Tenten said with mischief as she handed him back his card. "It's almost cute how much you care about Gilbert getting Anne."

She froze.

The corner of his mouth quirked up.

"Hn."

"Don't smirk," Tenten snapped, blushing. "I said almost."

"Hn."

"Jerk," she huffed and turned away from him to start preparing his order.

Neji walked back to his table feeling lighter than he ever did since they started their partnership. His smirk turned to a smile when he picked up the book again.

Moments later, Tenten set the cup in front of him, sighing dramatically.

He reached for it, without looking.

He took a sip, then paused.

She had written Gilbert on his cup.

* * *

"You look offended," Tenten whispered tentatively, her eyes widened childishly.

Neji looked up, blinking. She propped her chin on her crossed arms over the back of the chair, her eyes never leaving him. She blew hair out of her face.

"I don't like Roy," he said, his jaw clenched.

The messy bun at the top of the hair bobbed, uneven, as she let go of the chair and straightened her back. She stood straight, watching him, her hands on her hips. He blinked up at her.

"What are you doing?" Neji frowned.

Tenten vacillated, hesitating before quickly sitting in front of him.

He quickly pulled the books toward him, as if to make room for her. Her posture was stiff, her legs pressed against each other. He raised a brow at her. She bobbed her head, her body growing looser. She leaned over the table, and her eyes sparkled with mischief.

"But that's good complications, no? Gets your blood pumping and all."

"No," Neji scowled.

She laughed, and her hand shot up to play with her necklace.

"Show me where you're at."

Before he could react, Tenten reached across the table and took his book from his hands. She mouthed the words, holding the book at an unnatural angle.

"Hn."

Tenten returned the book, and all he could think about was that her hands were near his.

"Obviously, Anne wants something romantic," Tenten said, and looked back toward the counter. "I'm surprised you didn't see it coming."

Neji was relieved there were no customers; he didn't want her to leave. Over the last hour, they had come and gone more rapidly, their buzzing halted, charged, then drifted away for a few minutes before the bell over the door chimed again.

"What about you?" he asked tentatively.

"What?"

"You wouldn't fall for..." Neji pointed at the book, uncomfortable under her grey stare.

It sparkled like blinding thunder.

It never wavered like agitated sea.

"Roy is ridiculous," Neji tried again, and he shifted in his seat, his index finding the sentence where he had left off. "He's a walking-cliché."

Tenten put her fist under her chin, raising a brow at him. The silver bracelets around her wrist slipped from under her uniform, clicking gently, and he wondered how he had never noticed them before.

"How would you go about it?" she asked, her face unreadable.

Neji breathed in sharply, his heartbeat quickening. His ears popped.

"What?" he said faintly.

"You heard me, Hyuuga, how do you show someone you care?" Tenten waved her hand around, and the bracelets slipped out fully, catching the orange glow of the setting sun. Absentmindedly, she pulled at her sleeve, covering them again.

"By giving them stuff or sharing stuff with them. It's just how it is," she added wistfully.

Tenten shook her head, chewing her bottom lip, her hands now pressed on the table.

"But Gilbert is right for her," Neji cleared his throat and leaned forward, watching her.

Tenten shrugged.

She clicked and clanked from everywhere. Her fingers drummed on the table, her rings rubbing against each other, her earrings moving with her head. From her collar, he could see a hint of a silver necklace.

Neji almost smiled. He had been right: She was made of sharp edges.

"I don't know..." Tenten said slowly, and she scratched her cheek. "He just didn't fit in her life then. She needed a romantic ideal, and she got it in Roy. Gilbert is comfortable, familiar... Anne isn't ready for that."

Neji opened his mouth, but he didn't how to articulate his thoughts on comfort and familiarity. _Her_. _Them, _right now, with the books piled between them. His half-formed thoughts stumbled onto one another, the silence between them growing into an uneasy gulf. They stared at each other, Tenten's lips as parted as his.

The bell chimed.

"Duty calls," she breathed out with a small smile.

"Hn."

Neji gulped.

Tenten softly tapped on the table, the sound of her dampened. She stood up. She walked back toward the counter, and he allowed himself to follow her with his gaze. She beamed at the customer, already reaching for a coffee cup on the pile behind her.

He allowed himself to think she may beam at him like that one day.

* * *

"I need to close..." Tenten touched his shoulder faintly, and Neji snapped back to reality.

He blinked, the book quivering, then closing gently.

The coffee shop was deserted, the checkered floor glistering, wet, where Tenten had already mopped.

She watched him carefully, fingers grazing his shirt again, as if she wasn't certain if he was truly present. Neji cleared his throat and piled up his books again before putting them back carefully in his bag.

He pushed back his chair and stood up.

"I apologize, I've kept you."

"It's okay," Tenten smiled thinly, hesitant, and picked up the bucket.

Half a smile.

Half a beam.

"Good night, Hyuuga," she said softly, brushing by him.

"I can't give you a lift, then?" he asked, and placed the chair on top of the table.

It clanged, filling the silence between them that built, visceral, uncomfortable. Neji had the impression they both waited for something, holding their breath, scrutinizing the other.

Tenten shook her head, looking away first.

"I'm fine. Another time, maybe."

Neji nodded stiffly and picked up his bag. Their eyes met again, and they both opened their mouth as if to say something. Anything.

Nothing came.

The air shifted, rubbing him raw.

"Good night," Neji whispered.

"Night!" she replied as quietly.

It the warm glow of dusk, stray hair around her head appeared reddish, rings, necklace and bracelets catching the light in turn.

His hand curled around the door knob. He couldn't move.

He looked back at her.

Her wave was frozen mid-air, watching him, her mouth slightly agape, her eyes piercing through him.

At that moment, he died the death of a thousand heroes— from Ancient Greece to Shakespearan to contemporary heroes— merely thinking that she may never like him back.

"Tenten," he hushed her name like a prayer.

"Hmm?"

And it seemed to him, he would die each of those deaths more painfully if he didn't tell her how he felt. If she met a Roy who was more romantic, more poetic than Neji could ever be. If she wasn't comfortable with him, familiar with his gestures the way he was with hers.

His heart fluttered, and he couldn't bear it anymore.

"I was flirting. Since day one," Neji said with difficulty, and took a small step toward her.

He cocked his head on the side gauging her reaction. Her face was blank. Her arms fell limply to her sides. He took another step. Her hand shot up, stopping him.

"You're a terrible flirt," she said, and her chin quivered.

"I know that now. I thought I needed to prove myself worthy of you first," Neji gulped, watching her lips tightly pressed together.

"How did you do that exactly, again?"

Neji winced.

"Bragging."

"You just said you were flirting," Tenten said evenly, and took a bouncing step toward him.

"Yes, well... You made it sound like the execution was lacking," he replied quietly, and closed even more the distance between them.

"Neji."

Tenten stood on tiptoe, and leaned on his warmth, her eyes flickering across his face. Instinctively, he lowered his head. She smelled of roasted coffee beans and chocolate and pastries; bitter and sweet.

"I'm sorry, I hurt you," Neji muttered and angled his head again, mirroring her.

"You did the literary equivalent of pulling my hair," she said centimetres from his lips.

Neji chuckled, and the rumble of his chest vibrated through hers, his arms slowly circling her waist.

"I'll make it up to you."

"Yes, you will."

Tenten lightly pressed her lips against his.

His eyes fluttered closed, but she was already gone.

She cleared her throat and stepped back from him. She picked up the bucket and the mop from the floor and walked to the counter. He touched his lips. She turned her head.

"About that lift... Wait for me?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Of course," Neji nodded slowly.

Tenten beamed at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's as fluffy as it can possibly get with me. ;)
> 
> I have two headcanons about Neji that inspired me: 1) He's a closeted romantic and you can all fight me if you disagree. And obviously, they bond over books because I'm that kind of closeted romantic. 2) He's lactose intolerant hence all the nut milk. XD
> 
> ON ANOTHE NOTE: I started this Coffee shop!AUs series where I write sporadic oneshots *coughtwoshotsinthiscasecough* that solely take place in a coffee shop. So far, I have a GaaHina fic called Hot Chocolate Girl and this one, so don't be shy if you have requests for other ships. ^_^
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please take the time to comment/kudos if you can. :D

**Author's Note:**

> This is different from the stuff I normally write, but I needed some lighter stuff.
> 
> Next and final chapter will be posted next week! Huehueheuhe
> 
> Comments are very much appreciated! :D


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